Gloria Steinem, famed feminist author and activist once said in relation to pronouns
“The old languages – at least the ones I know – don’t have gender. They don’t have gendered pronouns. There’s no “he” and “she.” A human being is a human being.”
In 1950, even just a few years ago, the thought of responding to any individual as anyone other than him or her sounded almost outlandish.
Even now people oftentimes struggle to refer to their non-male or non-female counterparts as what they choose to be referred to as. Where that person might struggle with identifying the person that they’ve know their whole life as a him/he as a they/them, we can only imagine the struggle that the person newly identifying themselves has coming to terms with those pronouns themselves.
Pronouns are used to refer to a person in the third person. For example, saying “she is reading a book.” She would be a gender pronoun. To continue the example, he and they are also pronouns.
According to the English language, pronouns are assigned a gender. This can most easily be described by comparing it to another language. So, back to the example of “she is reading a book.” In English, the person who went to the store is clearly defined as female by the pronoun used in the sentence.
Currently in Canada there are over 350,000 people identifying as non-binary or other on the current queer or LGBTQ+ spectrum.
Zachary Wigand, Board of Governors Representative for the Lethbridge College Students Association and Vice President slash Executive Director of Chief Financial Officer of the LCSA LGBTQ+ club says that not only do pronouns play an important part in the work that he does, but making laws that protect those people and their rights are important in each sector of the college.
“Some of the work that I’m doing right now with the club is more along the lines of checking those new policies and seeing if those policies are relevant to the college as it is now, or if things as they are need to be changed.”
Taking the initiative of making sure you refer to someone with the right pronouns can also make them more comfortable. Some trans-people feel uncomfortable correcting people who are using the wrong pronouns because they fear rejection for their gender or sexual orientation.
Lethbridge College is currently taking its own strides, most recently changing bylaws in their Sexual Violence policy to add new ways to deal with pronouns and the like.
A handful of universities go even further, allowing students to register their preferred pronouns in the university computer systems.
At the University of Vermont, which has led this movement, students can choose from “he,” “she,” “they,” and “ze,” as well as “name only” – meaning they don’t want to be referred to by any third-person pronoun, only their name.
“It maximizes the student’s ability to control their identity,” says Keith Williams, the university’s registrar, who helped to launch the updated student information system in 2009.
When asked where he thought things were going Wigand states, “Pronouns are greatly important in any setting, I think that in today’s political climate it’s easy to see that a lot of people don’t agree with pronouns or the LGBTQ+ policies that governments are putting forward. But ultimately, things are improving whether people choose to follow or not.”
The best advice for anybody struggling with pronouns is to have open and honest conversations with the people in your life, whether it’s about their pronouns or your preferred pronouns.
If you or anyone you know has any questions regarding the proper use of pronouns in your day to day, the best resource is your local LGBTQ+ clubs and groups.